In wireless communications systems, registration is the process by which the mobile station notifies the base station of its location, status, identification, slot cycle, and other characteristics. The mobile station informs the base station of its location and status so that the base station can efficiently page the mobile station when establishing a mobile station-terminated call. On the other hand, paging a mobile station includes the act of seeking the mobile station when a call is to be placed to that mobile station. To conserve system capacity, reduce service cost, and save battery life, it is desirable to minimize registration as well as paging channel load. However, the act of minimizing registration may be accompanied by a considerable increase in the paging area, and hence an increase in the paging channel load. Current registration and paging techniques are not optimized based on the mobility of the mobile stations.
For example, a class of wireless services intended for quick, efficient, one-to-one or one-to-many (group) communication has existed in various forms for many years. In general, these services have been half-duplex, where a user presses a “push-to-talk” (PTT) button on a phone/radio to initiate a group call. If granted the floor, the talker then generally speaks for a few seconds. After the talker releases the PTT button, other users may request the floor. These services have traditionally been used in applications where one person, a “dispatcher,” needs to communicate with a group of people, such as field service personnel or taxi drivers, which is where the “dispatch” name for the service comes from. Similar services have been offered on the Internet and are generally known as “voice chat.” A key feature of these services is that mobile stations participating in a group call generally tend to be of low mobility. Therefore, registration and paging may be optimized accordingly.
There is a need, therefore, for mechanisms to minimize registration without having to page in a wider area. There is also a need to optimize registration and paging of a group of mobile stations based on the mobility of the mobile stations.